He gets caught far too inside too often but his physicality saved us.
25
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 35
- Clean sheets
- 12
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 5
- Yellow cards
- 4
Positionally he's not there yet but the way he shuts players like Aguero down is brilliant.
People would be salivating if Rafael were playing like Valencia has been. People are too set in their opinions to let reality make a difference to them.
This, Smalling is practically playing right back half the time. I don't even know where Valenica is.
Foul throw-ins again. Wtf are our coaching staff doing? Have a word with him because it is fecking ridiculous.
Defensively poor like the other defenders, but offensively he's looked class. I see flashes of when he was at his prime much more often now.
He was completely all over the place that half. How many times did Smalling get dragged out wide to confront Milner? Look at him ball watching for their goal. He's strong and fast but a defender he ain't against clever opposition.
Has no idea where to position himself but great recovery against Aguero
He hasn't though, the goal was just fault, he dived in to begin with, waltzed back and stood and watched, Smalling has had to pull himself out of position to cover him several times, that last man tackle was to cover for his own mistake, an on form Augero wouldn't have given him the opportunity to amend for his mistake. That's two massive mistakes in 45 minutes.People are actually complaining
Give the guy a fecking break please. He's had a very good half.
He was generally disastrous for the first half hour or so but did a fantastic job recovering that situation where Aguero was through. Even if it was his own mistake. Grew into it towards the end.
He's been poor. City have had joy down his side and offensively he's offered nothing. That cross to Fellaini at the end of the half was appalling.
At least he was able to recover - that's part of the game as well.
I care, an on form Augero would've punished him. He was at fault for the first goal and could've been at fault for a 2nd.
You don't think the manager cares about such lazy mistakes?
I don't understand how he's been judged to have been beyond consideration for rotation with Rafael at this point
I agree the Rafael bashers would be having a field day.
I'm guessing you didn't see their first goal then?
He's not even on my TV screen half the time, what the feck is he doing?
While Smalling and Jones looked nervous anyway, and Blind had Navas run in behind him - it escalates the situation 5 fold when your CB is pulled out to right back every couple of minutes because Valencia is casually jogging back. It makes our thin backline even thinner
Really, the basics of playing right back are :
Positioning/responisibility (be in your position so your team can count on you)
Take throw ins properly (as a fullback you're going to be taking a lot of them, dont do it incorrectly and give the opposition the ball)
Support your winger
Valencia does 1 of the 3 basics
Twice he's pointlessly slid in their area and allowed them half the pitch to counter down. He also left his spot completely open for a chance for Milner who was free for ages before a pass finally found him. And he's muscled Aguero off from a certain goal after a horrendous initial position. All brawn no brain - typical Valencia, once again.
Yep, Büttner esque, he was 5m behind the "offside trap".
He's thick as shit. Even that piece of defending when he outmuscled Aguero is because he didn't read the offside trap.
Rafael played better in his first season as a kid with no positioning ability than Valencia has been playing
This has been his worst game in a while. Mata needs to track back more and help him out.
The irony of this is hilarious. There are no Rafael bashers
I did. Thought Carrick could've done better there.
Really, the basics of playing right back are :
Positioning/responisibility (be in your position so your team can count on you)
Take throw ins properly (as a fullback you're going to be taking a lot of them, dont do it incorrectly and give the opposition the ball)
Support your winger
Valencia does 1 of the 3 basics[/QUOTE]
Feck me you are really clutching at straws to beat this man with. Lol if that's the basics of playing right back then I don't know.
Positioning/responisibility (be in your position so your team can count on you)
Take throw ins properly (as a fullback you're going to be taking a lot of them, dont do it incorrectly and give the opposition the ball)
Support your winger
Valencia does 1 of the 3 basics[/QUOTE]
Feck me you are really clutching at straws to beat this man with. Lol if that's the basics of playing right back then I don't know.
GIF of his recovery against Aguero?
Probably because the manager prefers Valencia's style over Rafa.
I thought it was Carrick's fault as well - never imagined it being Valencia's fault before I saw this thread....
But he's never been overrun, his problems haven't come from that. It seems like im being overly harsh on him but he's not a fullback, period.
He can't fart without someone bumping this thread mid match to have a moan.
What you are thinking?
When is playing Aguero onside good defending?
Is that English?
If Rafael had done that Aguero bit of defending, then people would've heralded him as the new Cafu. It's actually pathetic how some people try to discredit him.
Too often he and Smalling are swapping, with Smalling coming out to the right back position and Valencia to centre back. I guess this is because Valencia bombs on a lot, but we need to make sure we follow runners from midfield.
The bit where he caught Aguero and jockeyed him out was class.
The bit where he caught Aguero and jockeyed him out was class.
Of all the players to blame you blame Carrick? It was Valencia rushing out of position, jogging back and ball watching that caused all the problems.Throw ins one of the 3 basics
Not sure he tucks his shirt in properly either.....